


inspired by dancing, flowers, and thieves

by arcanawolf



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:08:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,281
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24620590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arcanawolf/pseuds/arcanawolf
Summary: a story about the kind of love that makes life feel normal
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	inspired by dancing, flowers, and thieves

As she stepped through the door, she was struck first by the darkness, and then by the faint strains of music that could be heard from through the curtain ahead. She blinked and looked around, the lantern light that fell in pretty patterns on the walls a sharp contrast to the fading sunlight behind her. A step forward, and the door swung shut behind her, cutting off the summer’s heat and leaving her suddenly chilly. With a shiver, she moved quickly towards the curtain on the other side of the narrow room, hoping the revelry she could hear beyond it would warm her up. She paused as she remembered what else was awaiting her beyond that curtain. How long had it been now, since she had seen him? Weeks, certainly, maybe even months? It felt like years, but it most definitely hadn’t been that long. Would he be here today? He never told her when he would return to New York City, only that he would come, and when he did come, that it would be on a Thursday, to this tiny dance hall in Queens. She didn’t know what he did for a living, exactly, only that it often took him overseas for weeks at a time, and that it likely involved top-secret government affairs, because he’d never told her anything about it, and he deflected her questions whenever she asked. It didn’t matter, she supposed, whatever he did, he always came back to her, which was why she came to this place every Thursday night, waiting to see if he would come. Sometimes, when it had been so long that she began to forget the smell of his cologne or the way he looked in a suit, she imagined him emerging from behind the heavy velvet and sweeping her away to a quiet little apartment where they could live together. It was ridiculous, of course. They both had busy lives, and it was honestly a wonder they could meet as frequently as they did. But still, she thought, smoothing down the flower-patterned fabric of her dress, it was a good dream; comforting, when the loneliness became too much, and enough excitement to battle the dreariness of regular life. She was shaken out of her thoughts by a rush of warm air from inside. A giggling couple brushed by her, sparing her mildly curious looks before stumbling past her into the quickly approaching night. As the curtain fell shut behind them, she reached out to catch it, allowing her to look into the decorated room. Candles in sconces lined the walls, and a string quartet in the back of the room played

___________________________________________________

He surveyed the room from his vantage point on the terrace, taking in the crowd milling around below. Occasionally, a flash of light would catch his eye — the reflection of the side of a champagne glass, the sparkle of cheap glass jewelry around a woman’s neck. There would be nothing here for him tonight, but that was alright. He wasn’t here on business. Glancing at his watch, he sighed. It was nearing half-past seven. If she wasn’t here already, it was likely she wouldn’t come at all. Absently, he fiddled with the clasp on the watch, a habit he had picked up from a friend long gone. It was disappointing, he thought. It had been a while since the last time he had seen her; his job wasn’t one that allowed him to remain in one place very long, and he’d spent the last month in Malaysia liberating some dignitary of his many illegally acquired possessions on the order of his spurned friend? Lover? Brother? He had stopped paying attention after the man launched into an impassioned diatribe against the target. Jobs like these were usually trivial, but the dignitary had selfishly invested in better than average security, meaning he had had to actually spend time planning. Good thing the friend, or whoever it was, had paid him an exorbitant amount of money for his troubles, or he would have been exhausted and pissed, rather than just exhausted. He had returned to the States for a night before he was leaving for Venezuela to catch up with an old friend, and he had hoped to see her before he left. No matter. He would return to his hotel room and retire early, cast her out of his mind for another month before he would allow himself to come back and try again. Surveying the tiny hall one more time, he turned to leave. If this were a made-up story, like the kind parents told their children in the late hours, a story about love and its inevitability, he would look over his shoulder and she would be there, radiant as a summer’s day, the most gorgeous woman in the room. Eyes like early morning before the sun has fully risen, skin of warm brown. But this wasn’t a bedtime story or a legendary tale of love. It was two lonely people with vague dreams of love and a future. Fairytales didn’t happen to people like him anyway. He left the terrace, and he didn’t look back.

___________________________________________________

Suddenly nervous, she fiddled with the silk wrapped around her waist. It was a blue-gray, with touches of lavender, almost an exact match to the color of his eyes, not that he or anyone else would have made the connection. It was a reminder to herself, that she remembered his eyes even after so long. If he was here tonight, she’d look at his eyes and remember them instead, until time wore away at the edges and erased the lavender from the stormcloud. Everything she wore here, she wore because it reminded her of him in some way- tiny golden daisies on the string around her neck matched the ones on her dress (his favorite flower, he’d told her once, whispered into the warm nighttime air, because his mother had named her only daughter after them), shoes the color of rubies, because that had been the first time they’d gone out together outside of this hall in Queens- to watch the story of a girl, a tornado, and friendship. That outing had been wonderful, she remembered. It had felt almost...normal, like they were two people who regularly met to go to the cinema and walk the streets of New York, and not a lonely man and a lonely woman who clung to each other for hours at a time before not seeing each other for weeks and weeks. Well. That was certainly dramatic, wasn’t it? She let go of the ribbon she’d been fiddling with, taking a deep breath to steel her nerves. So what if he wasn’t here today? He’d come, he always did, and she was no damsel. Life would go on, and not even love could stop that. This wasn’t a fairytale, and even if it were, fairytales didn’t happen to people like her anyway. She stepped through the curtain.

____________________________________________________

He reached a hand out to draw back the curtain that separated the well-lit hall and shadowed entry. A woman emerged before his fingers could touch the hanging velvet. He stepped aside to let her pass, and she glanced up, already smiling softly in thanks. 

Blue like the sky met gray like a storm.

___________________________________________________

Fairytales didn’t happen to people like them, but love did. So this is a story of love. Not the kind that parents tell their children at late hours, but the kind people whisper about, when the loneliness is too much even in a crowd and life seems like it’ll never stop moving. Just a story, but a good one nonetheless.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed! writing this was cathartic in a way, even though i've never been in love.
> 
> loneliness is a hard thing to deal with, especially in quarantine. it helps to know that someone loves you and you love them back.
> 
> stay safe everyone! stay healthy and be smart. times are tough but i know you got this :)


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